IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v39y2025i2p496-515.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crossers in a Segmented Labour Market: Occupational Advancement and Wage Changes from Semi-Skilled and Unskilled Jobs

Author

Listed:
  • Philip Wotschack

    (WZB Berlin Social Science Center & Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin)

  • Claire Samtleben

    (Prognos, Germany)

Abstract

How the upward mobility chances of workers in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs are shaped by influences at the organisational and sectoral level remains an open question. This article aims to close this research gap by examining the role of internal labour market characteristics in the promotion prospects and wage increases of workers in semi-skilled and unskilled positions. The hypotheses are derived from dual and segmented labour market theory. Regression analyses based on linked-employer-employee-data (LIAB), covering 44,024 workers in semi-skilled and unskilled positions from 2005 to 2010, underline the importance of the internal labour market. A considerable share of workers moved to skilled positions through company change. For the workers who stayed with the company, career advancements were associated with regular training investments and formalised regulations at the company level. Collective agreements, in contrast, were associated with lower chances of upward mobility, but higher wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Wotschack & Claire Samtleben, 2025. "Crossers in a Segmented Labour Market: Occupational Advancement and Wage Changes from Semi-Skilled and Unskilled Jobs," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 39(2), pages 496-515, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:39:y:2025:i:2:p:496-515
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170241275861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170241275861
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09500170241275861?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:39:y:2025:i:2:p:496-515. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.